Watch: 2020 Democratic presidential candidates answer Christian leaders' question about poverty

By Samuel Smith, Deputy Managing Editor Friday, December 13, 2019

Pete Buttigieg

Pete Buttigieg, the openly gay Christian mayor of South Bend, Indiana, opened his video in a familiar way by attacking conservatives who want to change how government-run welfare programs operate. 

“I believe the Scripture that teaches us that 'whoever oppresses the poor taunts his Maker,'” Buttigieg said. “I believe in faith that instructs us to attend to the words ‘I was hungry and you fed me. I was a stranger and you welcomed me.’ 

Buttigieg assured that his promise was to not just “say that we can do better.” He insisted that a Buttigieg administration “will do better.” 

The mayor said he would ensure universal healthcare through Medicare for All so that “nobody has to choose between treating their diabetes and paying their rent.”

Buttigieg said the U.S. also needs to “invest in the rural communities." Even though they produce "so much of America’s abundance," he said, they "see more workers sinking into poverty than our cities and suburbs.”

Buttigieg praised his Douglass Plan, what he calls a “comprehensive investment in the empowerment of black America.” 

“We are going to lift black America with the Douglass Plan, as ambitious as the Marshall Plan that rebuilt Europe,” he vowed. 

“When I am president, we will work to extend a circle of protection around every American, especially those who have been excluded and marginalized by poverty, race and hunger.”